Do you wanna know how I got these scars? My father was a drinker, and a fiend. And one night, he goes off crazier than usual. Mommy gets the kitchen knife to defend herself. He doesn't like that. Not. One. Bit. So, me watching, he takes the knife to her, laughing while he does it. He turns to me, and he says, "Why so serious?" He comes at me with the knife. "Why so serious?!" He sticks the blade in my mouth—"Let's put a smile on that face!" And... Why so serious ?

Don't talk like you're one of them! You're not - even if you'd like to be. To them, you're just a freak, like me. They need you right now, but when they don't, they'll cast you out - like a leper. See, their "morals", their "code"... it's a bad joke, dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be. I'll show you. When the chips are down, these, ah, "civilized people"? They'lleat each other. See, I'm not a monster. I'm just ahead of the curve.

You know what I've noticed? Nobody panics when things go "according to plan"... even if the plan is horrifying. If, tomorrow, I say that, like, a gang-banger will get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will be blown up, nobody panics, because "it's all part of the plan". But I say that one little old mayor will die... and everybody loses their minds! Introduce a little anarchy. Upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos. I'm an agent of chaos. Oh, and you know the thing about chaos? It's fair.

The Joker: How about a magic trick? [sticks a pencil into the table, point first] I'm gonna make this pencil disappear. [in one swift motion, slams Gambol's approaching crony head-first into the table, ramming the full length of the pencil through his eye socket, killing him] Ta-da! It's…it's gone. Oh, and by the way, the suit. It wasn't cheap. You ought to know; you bought it! [Gambol rises in anger]

The Chechen: Sit. I want to hear proposition.

The Joker: Let's wind the clocks back a year. These cops and lawyers wouldn't dare cross any of you... I mean, what happened? Did your balls drop off? Hmm? You see, a guy like me...

Gambol: A freak. [a few mob members snicker]

The Joker: A guy like me... Look, listen—I know why you choose to have your little, ahem, "group therapy" sessions in broad daylight. I know why you're afraid to go out at night. The Batman. See, Batman has shown Gotham your true colors, unfortunately. Dent? He's just the beginning. And as for the, uh, television's [points at Lau's image on the t.v. screen] so-called "plan" — Batman has no jurisdiction. He'll find him, and make him squeal. I know the squealers when I see them, and… [points at Lau again, who covers his camera with his hand and turns it off]

The Chechen: What do you propose?

The Joker: It's simple. We, uh, kill the Batman. [the mobsters laugh]

Sal Maroni: If it's so simple, why haven't you done it already?

The Joker: If you're good at something, never do it for free.

The Chechen: How much you want?

The Joker: Uh…half. [the mobsters laugh again]

Gambol: You're crazy.

The Joker: No, I'm not. No, I'm not. If we don't deal with this now, soon…little, uh, Gambol here won't be able to get a nickel for his grandma.

Gambol: Enough from the clown!

The Joker: [steps back, opens coat to reveal a chain of hand grenades] Ah, ta ta ta. Let's not blow…this out of proportion.

Gambol: You think you can steal from us and just walk away?

The Joker: Yeah.

Gambol: I'm putting the word out. Five hundred grand for this clown dead. A million alive, so I can teach him some manners first.

The Joker: Alright, so, listen, why don't you give me a call when you wanna start taking things a little more seriously. Here's my card. [leaves Joker card on the table, backs out of the room]

The Joker: We made it! [fires a shotgun into the air to get people's attention] Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. We are tonight's entertainment! I only have one question: Where is Harvey Dent? Do you know where Harvey is? Do you know who he is? Do you know where I can find Harvey? I need to talk to him about something. Just something little, huh? No…You know, I'll settle for his loved ones.

Guest: We're not intimidated by thugs!

The Joker: You know, you remind me of my father. [grabs him at knifepoint] I hated my father!

Rachel Dawes: Okay, stop!

The Joker: Well hello, beautiful! You must be Harvey's squeeze, hm? And you are beautiful. Oh, you look nervous. Is it the scars? Do you wanna know how I got 'em? [grabs her chin as she continuously tries to look away] Come here, look at me. See, I had a wife — beautiful, like you — who tells me, I worry too much, who tells me I ought to smile more, who gambles and gets in deep with the sharks. Hey. One day they carve her face. We have no money for surgeries. She can't take it. I just want to see her smile again, hmm? I just want her to know that I don't care about the scars. So, [Rachel tries again to look away, he grabs her face, forces her to look at him] I stick a razor in my mouth and do this…to myself. And you know what? She can't stand the sight of me! She leaves. Now, I see the funny side. Now, I'm always smiling.

[Rachel knees him]

The Joker: [chuckling] A little fight in you. I like that.

Batman: [appearing out of nowhere] Then you're gonna love me.

Bruce Wayne: Targetting me won't get their money back. I knew the mob won't go down without a fight, but this is different. They've crossed the line.

Alfred Pennyworth: You've crossed the line first, sir. You squeezed them, you hammered to the point of desperation. And in their desperation, they turned to a man they didn't fully understand.

Bruce Wayne: The criminals aren't complicated, Alfred. We just need to figure out what he's after.

Alfred Pennyworth: With respect, master Wayne, perhaps this is a man you don't fully understand either. A long time ago, I was in Burma, my friends and I were working for the local government. They've been trying to buy the loyalty of tribal leaders by bribing them with precious stones. But their caravans have been raided in forest north of Rangoon by a bandit. So we went looking for the stones. But in six months, we never met anyone who traded with him. One day, a saw a child, playing with a ruby the size of a tangerine. The bandit had been throwing them away.

Bruce Wayne: So why steal them?

Alfred Pennyworth: Oh, because he thought is was a good sport. Because some men aren't looking anything logical, not money. The cannot be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just wanna watch the world burn.

Lucius Fox: What can I do for you, Mr. Reese?

Coleman Reese: You wanted me to do the diligence on the LSA Holdings deal, again. Well, I found some irregularities.

Fox: Yes, their CEO is in police custody.

Reese: No, not with their numbers; with yours. Applied Sciences - a whole division of Wayne Enterprises - just disappeared, overnight. I went down to the archives and started pulling some old files. You're not gonna tell me you didn't recognize your baby out there, pancaking cop cars on the evening news. Now you have the entire R&D department burning through cash, claiming that it's related to cell phones for the army? What are you building for him now, a rocket ship? I want $10 million a year, for the rest of my life.

Fox: Let me get this straight: You think that your client - one of the wealthiest, most powerful men in the world - is secretly a vigilante who spends his nights beating criminals to a pulp with his bare hands, and your plan is to blackmail this person? [chuckles] Good luck.

Bruce Wayne: People are dying, Alfred. What would you have me do?

Alfred Pennyworth: Endure, Master Wayne. Take it. They'll hate you for it, but that's the point of Batman. He can be the outcast. He can make the choice that no one else can make - the right choice.

Bruce Wayne: Well, today I found out what Batman can't do. He can't endure this. Today you get to say "I told you so".

Alfred Pennyworth: [sadly] Today, I don't want to. [smiles] But I did bloody tell you. I suppose they'll lock me up as well, as your accomplice.

The Joker: Then that's the rule you'll have to break to know the truth.

Batman: Which is?

The Joker: The only sensible way to live in this world is without rules. And tonight, you're gonna break your one rule!

Batman: I'm considering it.

The Joker: There's only a few minutes left, so you're gonna have to play my little game if you want to save one of them.

Batman: "Them"?

The Joker: You know, for a while, I thought you really were Dent. The way you threw yourself after her...! [laughs]

[Enraged, Batman flips the Joker backwards onto the table]

The Joker: Look at you go! Does Harvey know about you and his "little bunny"?

Batman: [slams Joker's head into the mirror, punches him] WHERE ARE THEY?!

The Joker: Killing is making a choice…

Batman: [punches him again] WHERE ARE THEY?!

The Joker: Choose between one life or the other: Your friend the District Attorney, or his blushing bride-to-be! [laughs as Batman punches him again] You have nothing, nothing to threaten me with! Nothing to do with all your strength! But don't worry, I'm gonna tell you where they are! Both of them, and that's the point. You'll have to choose. He's at 250 52nd Street and she's on Avenue X at Cicero.

[when Gordon visits Dent at the hospital, after his face was burned; Dent lies on the hospital bed, the normal half of his face turned towards the camera, while the other half is not visible to viewer]

James Gordon: I'm sorry about Rachel. The doctor says you are in agonizing pain but won't accept medication. That you're refusing to accept skin grafts.

Harvey Dent: Remeber that name you all had for me when I was in Internal Affairs? What was it, Gordon?

James Gordon: Harvey, I...

Harvey Dent: Say it [beat] SAY IT!

[Gordon hesitates for a long moment, before answering]

James Gordon: Two-Face. Harvey Two-Face.

[Dent turns his disfigured face towards Gordon, but camera switches back to Gordon before the viewer can see it]

Harvey Dent: Why should I hide who I am?

James Gordon: I know you tried to warn me. I'm sorry. Wuertz picked you up. Was he working for them? You know who picked up Rachel? Harvey, I need to know which of my men I can trust.

Harvey Dent: Why would you listen to me now?

James Gordon: I'm sorry, Harvey.

[Dent turns his face to Gordon again and this time it is fully visible that half of it was completely burned]

Harvey Dent: No. No, you're not. Not yet.

[the Joker meets the Chechen in a warehouse; Lau is tied up on the top of a pile of cash]

The Chechen: Not so crazy as you look.

The Joker: I told you, I'm a man of my word. Where's the Italian?

The Chechen: Joker man, what you do with all your money?

The Joker: You see, I'm, a guy of simple taste. I enjoy dynamite, and gunpowder…and gasoline! [Joker's men douse the money with gasoline]

The Chechen: What the—? [the Joker brandishes a pistol at him]

The Joker: Ah-ah-ah. You know the thing that they have in common? They're cheap.

The Chechen: You said you were a man of your word.

The Joker: Oh, I am. I'm only burning my half. [throws the Chechen's cigar onto the money, setting it ablaze] All you care about is money. This town deserves a better class of criminal, and I'm gonna give it to 'em. Tell your men they work for me now. This is my city.

The Chechen: They won't work for a freak!

The Joker: "Freak"… Why don't we cut you up into little pieces and feed you to your pooches? Hm? And then we'll see how loyal a hungry dog really is! It's not about money. It's about…sending a message. Everything burns!

Two-Face: Going to see your wife? You love her?

Maroni: Yes.

Two-Face: Have you ever wondered what it would be like to listen to her die?

Maroni: Look, take it up with the Joker. He killed your woman. He made you…like this.

Two-Face: The Joker's just a mad dog. I want whoever let him off the leash. I took care of Wuertz, but who is the other man inside Gordon's unit who picked up Rachel? It must have been someone she trusted.

Maroni: If I tell you, will you let me go?

Two-Face: It can't hurt your chances.

Maroni: It was Ramirez. [Dent pulls out his gun, cocks his pistol, starts to flip the coin] But you said—

Two-Face: I said it couldn't hurt your chances. [coin lands on the clean side] You're a lucky man. [Maroni smiles with relief; Two-Face then flips coin again; this time, it lands on scarred face] But he's not.

The Joker: All the old familiar places. We really should stop this fighting, otherwise, we'll miss the fireworks.

Batman: There won't be any fireworks!

The Joker: And here we…go. [Businessman sets the detonator down; confused, the Joker looks at his clock, which says midnight]

Batman: What were you trying to prove? That deep down, everyone's as ugly as you?! You're alone!

The Joker: [snarls in fury and pulls out another detonator] You can't rely on anyone these days, you gotta do everything yourself. Don't we?! That's okay. I came prepared. It's a funny world that we live in. Speaking of which, you know how I got these scars?

Batman: No…but I know how you got these![He fires steel spike protrusions from his gauntlet, hitting the Joker in the face, who drops the detonator; Batman kicks him off the building, but then snares his legs with a grapple and hoists him up]

The Joker: Uhh, you…you just couldn't let me go, could you? This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. You truly are incorruptible, aren't you? Huh? You won't kill me, out of some misplaced sense of self-righteousness... and I won't kill you, because you're just too much fun! I think you and I are destined to do this forever.

Batman: You'll be in a padded cell forever!

The Joker: Maybe we could share one! You know, they'll be doubling up at the rate this city's inhabitants are losing their minds.

Batman: This city just showed you that it's full of people ready to believe in good.

The Joker: Until their spirit breaks completely. Until they get a good look at the real Harvey Dent, and all the heroic things he's done. You didn't think I'd risk losing the battle for Gotham's soul in a fist fight with you? No. You need an ace in the hole. Mine's Harvey.

Batman: What did you do?

The Joker: I took Gotham's "White Knight", and I brought him down to our level. It wasn't hard. See, madness, as you know, is like gravity: all it takes is a little push! [laughs hysterically as he is taken into custody]

Batman: You don't want to hurt the boy, Harvey.

Two-Face: It's not about what I want, it's about what's FAIR! You thought we could be decent men in an indecent time. But you you were wrong. The world is cruel, and the only morality in a cruel world is chance. Unbiased, unprejudiced, fair. His son has the same chance she had. [shows both sides of his coin] Fifty-fifty.

Batman: What happened to Rachel wasn't chance. We decided to act. We three.

Two-Face: Then why was it me who was only one who lost everything?

Batman: It wasn't.

Two-Face: The Joker chose me!

Batman: Because you were the best of us! He wanted to prove that even someone as good as you could fall.

Two-Face: And he was right.

Commissioner James Gordon: The Joker won. All of Harvey's prosecutions, everything he fought for: undone. Whatever chance you gave us of fixing our city dies with Harvey's reputation. We bet it all on him. The Joker took the best of us and tore him down. People will lose hope.

Batman: They won't. They must never know what he did.

Commissioner James Gordon: Five dead, two of them cops—you can't sweep that up.

Batman: But the Joker cannot win. Gotham needs its true hero.

Commissioner James Gordon: No!

Batman: "You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." I can do those things, because I'm not a hero, not like Dent. I killed those people, that's what I can be.

Commissioner James Gordon: No, you can't! You're not!

Batman: I'm whatever Gotham needs me to be. Call it in.

Commissioner James Gordon: [voiceover, speaking at Dent's funeral] ...A hero. Not the hero we deserved but the hero we needed. Nothing less than a knight. Shining... [to Batman] They'll hunt you.

Batman: You'll hunt me. You'll condemn me, set the dogs on me. Because that's what needs to happen. Because sometimes…the truth isn't good enough. Sometimes people deserve more. Sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded. [runs]

Gordon's Son: Batman? Batman! Why is he running, Dad?

Commissioner James Gordon: Because we have to chase him.

Gordon's Son: He didn't do anything wrong.

Commissioner James Gordon: Because he's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So, we'll hunt him, because he can take it. Because he's not our hero. He's a silent guardian. A watchful protector. A Dark Knight.

To me, it's an interesting idea because Batman – the character, the legend, the extension of it over all these years – it lends itself to different machinations, layers, different time zones – anything. You could really pretty much mold Batman. He's malleable, welcome and always interesting. They [Christopher Nolan] do The Dark Knight, and I did The Bright Knight. Ours was fun for the whole family.